Duke defeats Findlay 84-48 in final preseason matchup

Despite a very sloppy and undisciplined effort the Devils were able to put up a decent second half against Findlay after being only up 36-23 at halftime. Let’s preface this by giving some proper perspective on the opponent. Findlay was undefeated last year and were the DII champs, that’s not a bad pedigree to bring into Cameron, however the Devils with a more controlled and deliberate game could have taken over this game earlier. Not starting todays game was Nolan Smith, who is normally a starter, Smith was suspended by the NCAA for “violating rules pertaining to summer league participation”. While this game was only a preseason game it provided an opportunity for Coach K to see how the Devils handled not having Smith in the lineup….It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t so much the stats that Smith puts up for this team that was missed, it was his calming effect on the team. The freshmen played like freshmen, they did not relieve Jon Scheyer or Kyle Singler of the scoring burden. The freshmen went a combined 2-16 from the field. Nolan did play 12 minutes and scored 7 points and had 3 assists.

The best part of exhibition games is that you get to go back to practice with a clean slate and you get to iron out those kinks before the first game. Believe me there are kinks to work on, starting with the big men. These guys need to go to the hole with purpose, if you can’t do this against Findlay what is going to happen against UNC or Wake. The bigs need to maximize their opportunities, turn, face, dunk. Some old college tapes of Greg Oden may be what these guys need. The other thing to realize is that with the exception of Lance Thomas, Bryan Zoubek and Miles Plumlee are freshmen, this is only their second game. They will grow into their roles in time. More on this game later.